What have you been reading this week? [June 26-July 2, 2023]

I'm in the middle of a brain-candy cozy mystery "The Diva Cooks a Goose", which is okay. I'm also reading nonfiction "Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I". My teen and I are going to see the musical "Six" soon and I've been trying to learn a bit about the queens beforehand. I do like this one so far.

I'm reading Black House, by Stephen King and Peter Straub. About half in the novel, I had some difficulties to be taken with it, but I start being hooked up, we will see... My opinion so far is that it's not at the level of it's prequel (The talisman, by Stephen King and Peter Straub) that I read just before and was very gripping.

Finished: T. Kingfisher's The Twisted Ones, which was very easy reading - a folk horror kinda sequel to Machen's The White People. I read it straight after her The Hollow Places, and although both were engaging, the similarity of protagonists and overall story arc suggests that they are probably best not read in quick succession: too repetitive.

Continued: Finnegans Wake - reading it through the year. Just completed 'The Night Lessons' in book 2, which went from slightly comprehensible to utterly incomprehensible and back to slightly again, and added the columnar format with side notes by Shaun and Shem and footnotes by Issey just for fun...

Resumed: Robert Brightwell's Flashman and Madison's War - the fifth of his prequels to George McDonald Frasier's Flashman series. Although entertaining and well researched in general, this is perhaps the weakest of this series so far - which is probably why I had put it aside and not resumed until now, a couple of months after moving house, when I paused. The historical events that Flashy is involved in are scattered and episodic by nature which is probably the root of the problem with this book. Brightwell hasn't found a strong unifying arc to overcome that.

Started: The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten, but a chapter in I was not finding anything appealing to me, so abandoned it.

Started: Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time. A chapter in I am very intrigued at the setup and keen to continue.

also -- i just posted this on a whim to get some discussion going in this community. seems to be the largest one out there, so hopefully we get more interaction here! let me know if you'd like to see this weekly or if we could get a bot to do it on a weekly basis. not a mod here or anything i just wanted to see what everyone else is reading

Lord of Chaos. Book 6 of The Wheel of Time. Almost done. I'm really really enjoying these books.

I've finally gotten around to "Fire and Fury: Inside the trump White House", and I have to say: this is an absolute drama story. Like, there's intrigue and scheming for days.

It's simultaneously hilarious and horrifying that what feels like reading a kind of soap opera or reality show is a legitimate account of what went on in the White House.

This past week I read A Dreamer's Tales by Lord Dunsany, and the short stories The Doom that Came to Sarnath and The Cats of Ulthar by H.P. Lovecraft. The latter are part of the book club at !lovecraft and the former to get some background on what Lovecraft was reading at the time.

Trying to get trough Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I like it but I don't know why it's taking me so long to finish. Next on my list is A Hat Full of Sky - I love discworld books so much!

I just started Endymion after finishing Fall of Hyperion the other day. The Hyperion duology was fantastic and an instant favorite for me. I’ve heard the Endymion books are good, but different, so trying to temper my expectations a bit. So far so good.

Someone here at lemmy suggested World War Z. Bought it, read it, loved it

The First Philosophers by Robin Waterfield. It summarizes each of the presocratics and gives you a selection of their fragments and testimonies about them.

I finished Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson this morning before work. Next up is the Crippled God.

I'm currently reading The Diet Myth by Tim Spector

I just started reading P. Djeli Clark's A Master of Djinn but I'm not far enough in to know if I'll really like it. So far so good, though.

I am reading ' "Ataturk, the rebirth of a nation" of Lord Kinross. I liked it so far.

I am reading "Notes from a Small Island" by Bill Bryson. The vocabulary of the book is way too complicated for a foreigner, alas. (B1 level).

Finished Uprooted by Naomi Novik and absolutely loved it. Highly recommend if you're looking for a cozy fairy tale type of story.

Started reading The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Haven't gotten very far but I'm liking it a lot.

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. Only a few chapters in but it’s really good so far.

Nearly done with Book of the Short Sun! Just started the last book in it. I really like the two-timeline structure of it, though I may be one of the minority who prefers Long Sun. It's more...idk, cosy. I like the religious themes.

I want to mention something else but not sure how to do spoilers here

I'm currently reading Lonesome Dove. It's an easy read. It took some time to get into, but now that I'm half way in, I hope it never ends.

I just got Yellowface and can’t wait to start! A couple of friends gave it rave reviews.

I am reading The Motorcyle Diaries by Che Guevara in spanish.

Eyes of the Void by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The third book in an awesome space opera trilogy.

Mad Ship by Robin Hobb. Every book I read by her further makes her one of my favorite fantasy writers.

Finished:

• Anthropocene Reviewed - John Green
• Happy Place - Emily Henry

In Progress:

• The Maidens - Alex Michaelidas

I'm about a third of the way through the first Witcher book. It seems like each chapter is monster of the week. I know this is how the show is, but I wasn't expecting this for the book. It's not bad, just not what I was expecting